Ask an average shoujo manga fan about their favorite series, and they’ll happily regale you with the plot’s fine details. But ask for the history of shoujo manga itself and they’ll probably have noticeable gaps in their knowledge.
Some might recall that Osamu Tezuka created Princess Knight in 1948 and assume that shoujo manga was just another creation of the so-called “God of Manga.” Others may presume that it began in the 1970s based on how discussion focuses on classic shoujo mangaka like Moto Hagio, Keiko Takemiya, Riyoko Ikeda, and the other artists lumped under the “Magnificent Forty-Niners” label.
While both of these are important milestones in shoujo manga history, these assumptions do a great disservice to the work done during the two decades between those points in history. The 1950s and 1960s were a time of incredible change, when a generation of young women emerged to forge many of the conventions and visual language we associate with shoujo manga. That makes it all the more tragic that this period has fallen into obscurity, as time and circumstances threaten to erase it.
